Come Back, Be Here
by darkangel9314
Summary: Elena Gilbert had her future all planned out. She would go to Stanford with her best friend Damon Salvatore and they would go to college together, but when Damon is accepted into Dartmouth he chooses to take the scholarship and leave Elena to go to Stanford alone. Will there friendship survive the test of distance and time?
1. Chapter 1

Come Back, Be Here

Chapter 1

Elena looked at the photograph by her bedside table as she thought about the day she had met Damon Salvatore. It was when she was five and her and her mother had just moved to Mystic Falls after her father's tragic death.

She didn't really know the details of her father's death back then. No mother wants to tell their five year old child that their father had been brutally murdered by some psychopathic killer, but that was some story for some other time.

Her mother had just taken Elena and her one year old brother to their new two story house. Elena was looking at the big scary house when a ball flew into her front yard and nearly pelted her in the face.

"Hey!" she yelled.

That's when she came by the boy who she would know in the years to come as her best friend. He was an adorable little kid with his kind blue eyes and adorable black hair that stuck out in an arrangement of a bunch of little curls.

If Elena hadn't been a small child she would have claimed it was love at first sight, but in real life she didn't believe in love at first sight or at least she didn't think she did.

"Who are you?" He asked raising his eyebrows and inspecting her as if she were some sort of science project.

"I'm Elena Gilbert. Who are you?"

"Damon Salvatore at your service."

"You're very strange."

"Well I believe being normal is very overrated."

She laughed. It was the first time she had laughed since her father's passing.

"Thank you. I needed that."

"Not a problem. Elena Gilbert."

"Elena! Come inside!" Her mother said from the threshold to her new house.

"I'll see you around Damon Salvatore."

"I sure hope you will."

She smiled at Damon Salvatore and ran back inside the house.

Now the years had passed and that five year old girl from that day had become a high school graduate. Now she would be attending school at Stanford with her best friend Damon. Things couldn't get any better than this.

A knock on the door sounded and she smiled as she opened it up to see Damon Salvatore in the flesh.

"Shouldn't you be packing for our awesome road trip to Stanford? I can't believe we're going to be college students soon."

"Yea about that. Elena I need to tell you something."

"What is it my super best friend?"

"I got a scholarship."

"Damon that's great."

"You didn't let me finish. The scholarship isn't from Stanford. It's from Dartmouth."

"What are you trying to tell me Damon?"

"Elena. I'm not going to Stanford. I'm going to Dartmouth instead."


	2. Chapter 2

Come Back, Be Here

Chapter 2

Damon

In his past eighteen years of life Damon Salvatore had never seen someone as pissed off as Elena Gilbert in the moment he told her he was going to Dartmouth instead of Stanford. Her mouth hung open as a look of outrage crossed her face when she snapped it shut.

"No, this can't be possible. Damon. You told me that you had gotten into Stanford earlier this summer. We had long detailed conversations about getting an apartment together after we spent a year in the dorms. We talked about going to parties and doing normal college things together. How is it that during all these conversations we exchanged you never once mentioned Dartmouth?"

Damon exhaled. He knew he would have had to deal with Elena sometime. He had just held it off until now because he knew her inside and out.

"Look Elena, the truth is I was scared to tell you."

"Why would you be afraid to tell me Damon? We have been best friends since we were five! We tell each other everything."

"Fine! You want the truth then here it is! Dartmouth offered me a full ride scholarship, which means I don't have to pay for a thing. With Stanford I would be up to my eyeballs in debt and I'm not going to burden my mother anymore. I mean with Stefan's medical expenses and my mother's medications there's no room for some extra money. Plus Dartmouth is closer and I'll be able to check in on them. I don't see why you're not looking at the bigger picture here Elena."

"Why didn't you just tell me Damon?"

"Because I knew that you are the one person in this world who could get me to change my mind. Elena, I need to go to Dartmouth and I need to be closer to my family. I can't be the man you want me to be Elena. I can't be apart of your perfect fantasy life for us anymore."

Elena's mouth hung open and before she could say anything Damon was out the door.


	3. Chapter 3

Come Back, Be Here

Chapter 3

Elena sat back in the grass contemplating her life while Damon's brother Stefan laid beside her. She really hated to enlist the help of Damon's brother, but she really didn't know what else to do. After all her best friend was going Dartmouth instead of Stanford.

"I mean he just piled it on me Stefan. How was I supposed to react?"

"Do you really want my advice?"

She turned her head to look at Stefan. He was really pale, but after all cancer will do that to a person.

"Of course I would."

"I think both you and Damon should suck it up and just say goodbye to each other. Go your separate ways. I mean Damon is going to Dartmouth for me Elena so he can be closer in case something happens to me. So please don't make him feel horrible for it. Both of you have been friends for years. Go say goodbye before it's too late."

Elena sighed and sat up.

"You're right. Let's go say goodbye to Damon."

Stefan smiled as he helped her up to go say goodbye to Damon.

Elena took in a deep breath and knocked on Damon's door. He answered it and she threw herself into his arms.

"I'm so sorry I'm the worlds biggest idiot."

Damon sighed and hugged her tighter.

"No I am."

Elena smiled as she stayed in Damon's arms never wanting the moment to end.


	4. Chapter 4

Come Back,Be Here

Chapter 4

Damon laughed at an inappropriate joke that Stefan had told him. Even though Damon was going to miss his mother, he was glad that she couldn't hear this conversation right now. After all guys will be guys and his brother seemed to score some major pussy from time to time. He was recounting his sex stories for Damon who was still a virgin. He just didn't see a reason to have sex with someone if he wasn't in love with the person and he hadn't found that special person yet. He was in no rush to fix that either. He was perfectly content with jacking off and watching his stash of porn, but he would never admit that to his brother. There were just some things that guys just didn't talk about and this was one of them.

"So how is your love life going brother?" he asked. It had been a while since he did so.

"It's going pretty well, but I'm more curious about yours."

"I don't have a love life."

"That's what you would like to think."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that you still have feelings for Elena, but you were too scared to go for it."

"You don't know anything about that."

"You might be right, but neither do you."

Damon scoffed and kept his eyes on the road. Sometimes Stefan could be super frustrating.

"Well we'll just agree to disagree on that one."

Stefan smiled and shook his head as if he knew he was right. This was going to be a long day.


	5. Chapter 5

Come Back, Be Here

Chapter 5

Despite the unpleasant car ride alone, Elena finally arrived at Stanford. She pushed the depressing thoughts of Damon out of her mind and smiled when she looked at how beautiful the campus really was. The pictures really didn't do it any justice. After the awe wore off, Elena found a parking spot and took her bags out of her trunk. It was now time to get introduced to college life and she for one couldn't wait to start this new experience in her life.

After she got her room assignment and help with her stuff, Elena walked into her room to see that a blonde girl was already there and unpacking her stuff. Elena smiled at the girl and she smiled back. She should at least get to know her new roommate. After all it would make the next four years here more comfortable.

"Hey you must be my new roommate. Hi, I'm Caroline. What's your name?"

"Elena. I'm a freshman here."

"Cool I always wanted a freshman roommate. I'm a junior."

"Awesome, so what does everyone do for fun around here."

"There's tons of things to do. I can give you a tour if you want."

"That would be awesome, thanks."

Caroline smiled as Elena finished unpacking her stuff before her and Caroline headed out.

The campus was more beautiful than Elena imagined as she looked around with Caroline. There was tons of stuff to do here and Elena loved every part of it. They stopped at freshman orientation where Caroline introduced Elena to her group.

Apparently, Caroline was in an accepela group and they preformed in a ton of competitions. The group leader told Elena to stop by and audition if she wanted to. Elena told her she would consider it and Caroline took her to more places. It was all so overwhelming.

After they wee finished, Elena told Caroline she was tired and just wanted to go back to the room for a little while. Caroline gave her a smile of reassurance before she left with the rest of her friends to go clubbing for the rest of the night. Elena had a feeling that she would really like it here, but it was time to do what she always did every Saturday night.

Elena went up to her dorm room and opened her laptop grabbing her one tree hill DVD and popping one of them in. Her and Damon used to watch this show together and sing along with Hailey when ever she proformed. Damon thought the show was too over dramatic, but Elena lived for stuff like this.

She sighed and turned off her life, so far college was okay she just really wished Damon was here with her, she wondered what he was doing right now...


	6. Chapter 6

Come Back, Be Here

Chapter 6

Damon shut off the car turning off the stereo in the process as him and Stefan got out of the car looking at Dartmouth college in full aw. He had to admit that Stanford had it's beauty, but Dartmouth was really taking his breath away.

Damon took a deep breath as he got his bags out of the car and walked past the quad taking in everything as much as he could. If Elena was here she would have adored it. If Elena was here maybe they could have given this relationship a real shot, but now that he was here there would be no real chance of that happening so he had to move on even if it meant letting Elena go.

When he hit his dorm, Stefan and him walked upstairs and found his room. He opened the door and saw a male kissing a girl whose shirt was barely clinging onto her body. The girl gasped as she collected her clothes and quickly got dressed.

"Ugh sorry about that. Me and Alaric thought you wouldn't be here for a couple of hours."

"And you are?" Damon asked giving her a look.

"Oh Hi I'm Josette Laughlin. But you guys can call me Jo for short."

"Well it was nice meeting you Jo."

Jo laughed as she kissed Alaric on the mouth.

"Have fun tonight baby. I'll see you tomorrow."

Alaric smiled as Jo left the room and Alaric turned around.

"I guess you heard. I'm Alaric Saltzmen and you are?"

"Damon Salvatore."

"Nice to meet you."

"It's nice to meet you Alaric, but do you mind putting some clothes."

"Whatever you want dude. I had to get ready tonight anyway. Me and a couple of guys are going to the bar. You can come if you want to."

"You know what I think I will. I mean I'm in college now right and college is about the experience."

"Excellent."

Damon smiled. He knew that he would never forget Elena but maybe this experience wouldn't be bad for him. Maybe it's exactly what he needed.


	7. Chapter 7

Come Back, Be Here

Chapter 7

Unpacking was one of the most tedious things that Elena had done since she had gotten to Stanford as she rummaged through her things carefully placing her belongings to where she wanted them the most. She knew for most people it wasn't that difficult of a task, but for her it was like everything she touched reminded her of Damon. How would have things gone if she had had there courage to tell him how she really felt when she first knew she liked him in high school. She hated herself for being so stupid as she remembered that night like it was just yesterday.

Five years ago

"Seriously? You're gonna wear that?"

Elena looked down at her outfit to see what exactly was wrong with it. Today she had went with her usual ensemble of her favorite band tee and her usual pair of jeans and converse. She loved this outfit and she had no clue exactly what the hell was wrong with it.

"What do you mean? I wear this stuff almost every single day."

"Which is exactly my point. When was the last time a guy flirt with you?"

"Why does that matter at the moment?"

"Because this is a party Elena. You should have a lot more fun than what you've been having this year. After all it's the first day of summer. You need to look hot."

"According to whose observations?"

"I just thought it would be a nice change. You don;t have to do anything if you don't want to."

Elena observing herself in the mirror. Maybe Damon was right. Maybe she switch it up just for tonight to see what everyone said.

"Okay fine you win, but you're picking my outfit."

"Deal. Now let me see how I can help Elena Gilbert."

"Please I''m not that bad."

"You wore pajamas to school yesterday."

"Hey! They were deadpool! Don't you dare diss on them!"

"Okay. Point proven, but I'm sure we can do better."

Elena shook her head as Damon looked through her closet pulling out a few articles of clothing and handed them to her causing her to go slightly off balance.

"Here you go."

"Thanks I guess."

"Go on. Try them on."

"Whatever you say. I'll be back in a few minutes. Actually I'm probably going to throw on some makeup while I'm at it. I'll see you in a minute."

"I would love to help."

"Slow your raging hormones, I'm sure I can do this on my own."

"Suite yourself, from what I've heard of lately I'm a hit with the ladies."

Elena rolled her eyes tossing her pillow at Damon as she headed into her conjoined bathroom that she shared with her brother Jeremy and looked at the clothes that Damon had brought her. Talk about over the top. Well at least for her.

The dress Damon had picked out was a stunning, short, red off the shoulder dress with black boot high heels and her favorite necklace that she always loved to wear. Who knew that Damon had style. Elena had always wanted to wear something like this but had never dared to be bold. Well Damon was right about one thing it was time for her to make a statement.

Throwing the dress on =, Elena quickly curled her hair like all the tutorials had showed her how to do and threw on some red lipstick with her makeup essentials. She didn;t know why, but she had a feeling that tonight would change her entire night.

When she came out of the bathroom, Damon let out a low whistle as she twirled around demonstrating the dress to him.

"Ready to go?"

"You bet I am. This party is going to be epic."

"You say that about every party."

"Well maybe this time I'll mean it."

Elena gave him a knowing look as they both headed to the party wondering what life held in store for them next.

When Elena and Damon got to the party, bodies were pressed together on the dance floor trying to make room for others. A full beer keg was in the kitchen and the ultimate host Rebekah Mikaelson (Who just so happened to have the biggest crush on Damon) made her way towards them with her famous man eating smile. She threw her arms around Damon giving him excited squeals that she was happy for him to be there all the while looking at Elena as if she was a nuisance. Than again Elena was used to it. Every girl who liked Damon looked at her as if she had the plague or something. It wasn't her fault that they had been inseparable since childhood and yet every girl thought it was so inconvenient when all they had to do was talk to Damon to see that he had no interest in her what so ever. Maybe she would have more friends if they thought with their brains for once.

Finally after what seemed a too long for anyone hug, Rebekah finally pried apart from Damon's muscular torso and turned to Elena plastering on her fake smile.

"Nice to see that you made it too, Elena."

"Well you know me Rebekah, I wouldn't want to miss one of your world famous parties."

"Well hopefully it's great for you. Come find me anytime Damon if you want to talk." She said with a wink before she walked off.

Elena scoffed causing Damon to turn towards her and give her a questionable look.

"What? She makes it so obvious that's she's ten second away from jumping your bones."

"Is that such a bad thing? After all we are in high school, maybe it's time to finally get out there."

"But do you seriously want to have sex with her? She's so-"

"So.. What, Elena? Don't tell me your jealous."

"Please I'm just saving you from the trail of STD'S you'd contacted if you slept with her, but if you want to risk it just go right ahead and jump in to see what happens."

"Maybe later, but right now I would really love to play a game of beer pong with my best friend."

"Fine. One game, but that's it I don't want to play beer pong all night."

"Deal. And hey Matty blue eyes is over there so maybe you'll work that Gilbert magic with someone tonight."

"Did you just encourage me to get laid for the first time at a party with the quarterback of the football team no less?"

"You only live once right?"

Elena nudged him with her shoulder as he chuckled walking her over to the pong table where Matt and Tyler were invested in their game. Matt looked over his shoulder and smiled broadly at Elena. She knew he had a real interest in her, but she really couldn't sere a future with him in it, but that didn't mean she had to be rude to him either.

"Hey Matt. Hey Tyler."

"About time you showed up Gilbert. You down for a game?"

"You know it. Does double sound alright with you two?"

"You sure you can take us?" Matt said gesturing to Tyler.

"Are you seriously asking me that question right now?" She said pressing herself up to him so they were chest to chest.

"You sure do talk a lot of game for a girl whose never won a game before." Matt replayed wiggling his eyebrows at her.

"Well tonight is finally the night that I'm going to kick your ass Donovan. Unless you're too afraid to get beat by a girl."

"No way. Bring it on Gilbert."

"Don't worry I will."

Matt smiled at her tossing her a ping pong ball as Damon and Tyler set up the cups refilling them with beer. Even though Elena wasn't great at this game she did have to admit that she did have fun playing it. Even though her and Damon did lose again. When the last ball hit the rim of the cup and fell in, Matt gave Elena a triumph look as him and Tyler bumped chest.

"Better luck next time Gilbert."

"Your ass is grass next time Donovan. I'll be practicing my mad ping pong throwing skills until next time."

"I'll be looking forward to it Gilbert."

Elena laughed giddily as Damon took her out to the dance floor spinning her around until they were in the middle with a cluster full of bodies. Elena's laughter seized as Damon pulled her to his chest and she gazed into his bright blue eyes. She did have to admit that in those eyes she could tell why every girl fell for him instantly. Except her of course. She laughed at Damon looking into those eyes as a challenge. Right now she felt as if she could do anything or maybe that was just the alcohol taking it's course.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" she asked suddenly feeling as if she was floating on air.

She expected Damon to say something romantically cliche such as 'Because you're beautiful', but Damon Salvatore didn't feel that way about her so instead he pulled her close, his mouth so close that his breath was tickling her ear and whispered

"Because Matt Donovan is looking over this way and I'm trying to make him see that if he doesn't snag you up soon you might be taken in no time. Besides Rebekah looked like she was two seconds away from humping my leg on the dance floor so I guess were both doing each other a favor."

Elena's smile flattered slightly wondering why she felt so disappointed in his answer, but she quickly hid it and laughed instead, just like she always did when this sudden feeling of something more with Damon popped up. He was her best friends for Christ sake, she couldn;t feel anyway for him for Christ sake and she wouldn';t. This was just a faze and she would get over it eventually.

"What are you my knight in shinning armor? The last time I checked I was a big girl who could handle herself."

"Never said that you weren't, but sometimes it doesn't hurt to have a little back up. After all if he ever hurt you I would break that perfect throwing hand of his."

"I appreciate the sentiment, really I do, but you just can';t go chasing off every guy who has an interest in me , that's not fair to either of us."

"When have I ever chased off a guy who likes you?"

"It happens more often than you think."

"Like when?"

"You can't tell me you don't remember when Tyler had a crush on me in eighth grade? You told him if he ever touched me you'd contort his body like a pretzel."

"Hey! You can't blame me for that! He smacked your ass and called you baby one time and you ran to me crying that you hated him with every fiber of your being. So don't try to shuffle the blame on me there besides it all turned out for the best. He doesn't bug you anymore does he?"

"Alright fine, I'll give you that one, but why are you trying so hard to make Matt jealous when you've been trying to push me towards him all year?"

"Because he doesn't seem to be taking the hint to ask you out already."

"Why does that bug you so much? Why do you want me to be with him so bad?"

"Because you deserve one of the good guys Elena."

"I already have one of the good guys, Damon."

"That's not what I meant Elena and you know it. Why are you so terrified of finding the real thing?"

"What do you mean by that?"

"You know exactly what I mean Elena. You're a gorgeous girl who everyone admires, but it seems like no one can have. You talk about living your life, but you never put yourself out there. Why is that?"

Before Elena could answer she caught a glimpse of golden hair moving past them as she caught Rebekah in her vision. She was so close that she had had to hear what Damon had just said to her, but instead of interrupting she stuck her nose up in the air and moved on. Elena sighed as she looked back at Damon to answer his question honestly.

"Because I'm afraid of being hurt. You of all people should understand that."

Damon flinched at her answer, but he knew exactly what she was talking about.

"Can we please not talk about Bonnie right now please? I'm still torn up about what happened between us. I should have never let her go because of what our parents thought about us together."

"We all make mistakes Damon, I'm sure she doesn;t blame you for it."

"There you go again Elena Gilbert, believing the best in me even when everyone else thinks I'm the biggest asshole ever."

"Rebekah doesn't." she implied restoring her teasing tone. This conversation had gotten way too intense for her and she wanted to make things right after being a bitch herself by bringing up the Bonnie thing. She knew it was wrong and yet she did it anyway. Good job Elena.

"Please Rebekah likes me because I am an asshole. They tend to be her thing."

"Still, you only live once. Why not date who you want to while you can? After all there's no guarantee it will work, but why sacrifice the could have been just because you're afraid."

"Are you finally agreeing with me that you should go out with Matt?"

"Maybe I am. After all maybe you're right. Maybe it will work. I owe it that much to at least try right?"

"That's my girl. Now go on and go find Matt to tell him the good news. I'll be here waiting for you when you get back."

"Come on Salvatore, don't wait up for me. Go find Rebekah and get what you deserve. There's no reason why we both can't be happy right?"

"You're defiantly right Elena. Go have fun, We'll catch up when the party's over."

"Sounds like a plan."

Elena smiled broadly at her best friend as she made her way over to where Matt was talking to Rebekah. She giggled slightly than seized when she saw Elena narrowing her eyes slightly at the interruption, but than quickly recovered to give Elena a genuine smile this time.

"Oh good you're finally done talking to Damon now I can snag him up for a quick chat. I'll catch you later Matt." She said winking at Matt as she made her way to Damon. Well at least it wouldn't be that difficult for him to find her.

"Hey Elena! You having a good time?"

"As good of a time anyone can have at these parties. Hey Matt, Can I ask you something?"

"Of course."

"Do you like me?"

"You know I like you Elena. You're a pretty tight girl for a cheerleader. A lot of them are super bitchy, but not you."

"That's not exactly what I meant by like."

"What did you mean? You're giving me really mixed signals here Gilbert."

"What I mean to say is if you really like me, as in if you would want to date me."

"Oh, well in that case I would like to get to know you that way very much Gilbert. How about you give me a couple of minutes to grab another beer and than I'll meet you in the coat closet so we can discuss this further."

Elena's stomach dropped slightly at the reply, but than she talked herself up. Of course he wanted to have a little taste of her in the coat closet before they became an official item. Well she wouldn't flatter this time. It was time to start living life. Consequences be damned.

"All right. See you in a few." she said giving him a Rebekah approved wink before she made her way to the coat closet.

The coat closet at the Mikaelson house was dark and crowded as Elena stood in the damp and musky smelling closet waiting for Matt to make an appearance. She took in a few deep breath calming herself and telling herself over and over again that she was a goddess and she could prove to Matt that she was good enough to dare. Maybe even better. She just had to prove it to herself first.

She was still trying to convince herself of this five minutes later when the door finally opened and she felt his body behind hers. Taking a deep breath she turned towards him fumbling in the dark as she found his chest and smiled. If she was going to go for it now was the time. Gathering all the courage she could muster, Elena pressed her lips to his savoring the flavor as she pressed her lips harder against hers. She had to admit though she didn't know Matt that well he was an amazing kisser. Even his scent was amazing yet familiar at the same time. Why hadn't she noticed it before now though?

The kiss deepened as his hands found there way down her dress gathering the fabric there and pulling it off of her body in one swift motion. His tongue flicked hers as she moaned against his mouth. God did he fell amazing.

His mouth detached from her lips and kissed her collar bone as she pulled his shirt over his head kissing everywhere she could on his body before he pressed her into the floor hovering over her causing her body to ignite. It felt amazing. She was so glad that Damon had convinced her to go for this.

Matt's hands slipped passed her bra cupping her breast and playing with them. It wasn't that long before he removed her bra gently sucking on her breast causing her to throw her head back and moan. It felt amazing until Matt's hands quickly moved to her panties sliding them down to her ankles as he gently rubbed at her clitoris with his bare thumb. Did she really want to do this here in a coat closet?

She quickly made up her mind as she heard his zipper zip down and the rustling of him trying to remove his pants and possibly his boxers. She felt his tip by her entrance as she scrambled to close her legs as she sat up. It was time to let him know that she wasn't that type of girl.

"Matt please stop, I'm not ready for this."

"Elena?" said a familiar voice which caused her to scramble into herself further. What in the living hell was going on here?

"Damon!" she screamed as the door flew open revealing Damon in blindfold which he quickly took off.

Elena took her eyes off of his body and looked to where the group of laughter had erupted. Rebekah stood there with her cellphone as Matt smiled ruthlessly behind her. They had tricked them. They had almost...

Elena couldn't think about that though as her cheeks flashed with embarrassment. Rebekah flashed a picture as multiple people recorded the exchange following Rebekah's lead.

"Awww looky Matt, Little miss prissy cheerleader will lift her skirt up for almost everybody."

Elena fought her tears as she quickly gathered her clothes wanting nothing more than to get out of there.

"What the hell Rebekah?!" Damon asked quickly pulling his pants back up.

"Ah don't be that way Damon. I just thought after that display you two put on the dance floor that you would need to get rid of some sexual tension. God knows Elena finally needed to get laid. And it was so easy for Matt to convince her to wait for him in there. As if the two most popular people in school would want you two losers. I'm just sad that you didn't actually fuck her before you two realized you were actually about to fuck each other. Nevertheless this will be social media gold. "

Elena sprang up finally getting her dress back on as she stared daggers at Rebekah and Matt.

"Go fuck yourself Rebekah."

"Oh look guys Miss Gilbert does have some balls in there too bad Damon didn;t get to go balls deep on her before she went total prude on him."

"Fuck off Rebekah." Damon said pulling Elena closer as she crossed her arms against her chest. She needed to get out of there and she needed to get out of there now.

"Oh come on Damon. I was only trying to help you two out."

"You're disgusting. Come on Elena. Let's go home."

Hoots and hollers followed them as bile rose in Elena's mouth. She had almost had sex with her best friend. How could she be so stupid? How could they not realize that they were kissing each other before it went that far?

When they made their way out of Rebekah's house, Elena leaned against the porch vomiting the contents that she had consumed for the past several hours. It finally felt good to let something out.

"Elena!" Damon shouted running over to where she was on the porch and holding onto her hair until she was done.

Elena gasped in the cold night air as she turned her head slightly towards Damon. Hus blue eyes looked prominent in the moon light as he reached his hand to her face wiping the left over vomit from her chin.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Yeah. Thank you." She answered not bothering to hide her tears anymore.

He pulled her close to him as she inhaled that amazing scent. He was the only one she could trust at the moment and that terrified her.

"Come on let's get you home."

Elena nodded letting go of her tears as Damon escorted her back to the car and back home.

Elena's tears continued as Damon pulled into the driveway and turned off his car turning her face to his. She was so embarrassed and she had no clue how to really start this conversation. It was a good thing that Damon did.

"We have to talk about what happened at the party."

"What's there to talk about. Rebekah and Matt tricked us into almost sleeping together. We didn't though so we win easy said easy done."

"Do you really think that? Or are you trying to hide your real feeling from me? It wasn't like we just kissed Elena you almost lost-"

"Lost what Damon! My virginity! Yes I get that okay! We were stupid both of us! But I'm not going to let this ruin our lives. It was a mistake and obviously we learned from it."

"I'm sorry Elena. I should of known that she would pull this, but.."

"You were living your life."

"Exactly."

Elena exhaled breaking out into a fit of giggles. She didn't know why she was laughing but it felt good to laugh after the night she had. And soon Damon was laughing with her.

"The people we're graduating with are assholes." Damon said making her laugh again.

"You can say that again." Elena said looking into Damon's eyes.

Damon placed his hand on Elena's squeezing it causing her to seize her laughter. What was going to happen between them now that this had happened?

"You do know that it will be alright, right?" he said.

"We're going to be the laughing stock of the whole school."

"At least we'll be in it together."

"Forever and always."

"Promise."

"Promise."

"I better get inside." she said giving him her first genuine smile of the night.

"Will you be okay?"

"I'll try to be."

"Call me if you're not."

"Always." she said giving him a kiss on the cheek as she walked back into the house ready to take on the universe with her best friend by her side.

"Elena!"

Caroline's voice sent Elena out of her memory causing her to twirl around and force a smile.

"Hey Caroline, What's up?"

"What are you up to tonight?" She said laying on her bed.

"I was thinking about just unpacking. Why? What's up?"

"Me and a couple of the girls in the group are going out for a few drinks tonight. We were wondering if you want to come."

"I'm only eighteen Caroline which means no drinking allowed."

"You don't have to drink. The club allows all college students. It's kind of like a place for all of us to hang out and get to know each other. What do you say? It might be fun to participate in some karaoke."

"Fine. I guess I can take a break and go."

"Yay! I promise Elena you won't regret it. Now come on let's go find you an outfit for you to wear."

Elena rolled her eyes as Caroline dragged her to her closet wondering what the hell she had just gotten herself into.


End file.
